Dr. Brent Hardt (left), Charge d'Affaires, Embassy of the US to the Eastern Caribbean presenting certificate to Mr. Philmore Mullin Director, Antigua and Barbuda National Office of Disaster Services

Bridgetown, Barbados, March 6, 2009 (CDERA) - Thirty-six (36) disaster management and information technology professionals from all sixteen (16) CDERA States received training this week, in the use of a Web based Emergency Operation Centre (WebEOC) at the Grand Barbados Hotel.

This is another step in using information technology to improve decision making that can save lives, property and livelihoods during emergency events in the Caribbean. The WebEOC system has the capacity to connect with multiple users and reach across remote locations and jurisdictions in the CDERA community.

At the closing of this CDERA - United States Southern Command (US SOUTHCOM) WebEOC Training, Jeremy Collymore, Coordinator of CDERA said, “the WebEOC Technology is both timely and useful in the sense that it provides an information and communication technology platform that has the potential for permanently eliminating traditional communication gaps associated with disaster events in this part of the world.”

Once this Web based information management infrastructure is fully operationalised, it will facilitate more effective communication and coordination among the CDERA Coordinating Unit, affected countries and supporting agencies through real time sharing of critical information.  This means, that high level decision makers, emergency managers and first responders will have access to up-to-the-minute intelligence on the nature and exact location of disasters, as well as other critical details to inform emergency operations.

Dr. Brent Hardt, Charge d’Affaires, Embassy of the United States of America to the Eastern Caribbean, who also spoke at the closing ceremony said, “the training was made possible through a recently signed Memorandum of Understanding between the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) and the United States Southern Command (US SOUTHCOM) Humanitarian Affairs Division which is providing a US$1 million to implement the Web Emergency Operation Centre (WebEOC) initiative. The United States hopes that this Centre will be a valuable tool in ensuring that essential assets and personnel are able to deploy to the places where they are most needed.”   

Participants and WebEOC Course Facilitators

The WebEOC hardware and software is currently being installed at the national disaster offices and the initial test for WebEOC will be during the US SOUTHCOM funded Fuerzas Aliadas Humanitarias (FAHUM) exercise to be held in the Caribbean in April 2009. The first stage of this exercise will test the communications capacity of the CDERA Regional Response Mechanism for pandemic influenza.

WebEOC will be available for use during the 2009 hurricane season where it will be further tested and it is expected that the system will be fully operational in all CDERA States by the end of 2010.

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Note: The 16 CDERA Participating States are: Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago and Turks & Caicos.